1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to response systems and methods, and, more particularly to maintaining network connectivity between an operation center and deployed agents, e.g., members of an emergency response team, even in areas that have become otherwise inaccessible while responding to an incident.
2. Background Description
A typical autonomous modern locale, such as a city, county or state, has a complex infrastructure that includes newer technologies, extending well beyond roads and traditional utilities, e.g., water, gas and electric. Newer infrastructure technologies include, for example, wired and wireless communications networks (such as, cellular networks) and data networks, e.g., intranets and the Internet. Including these newer technologies has allowed locales to avail themselves of new communications technologies as well, such as text messaging and social media, e.g., Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. These newer technologies have enabled locale department planners and managers to manage local resources and respond to local emergencies that arise, e.g., from adverse weather conditions and natural disasters. Accordingly, some locales are setting up operation centers, such as the IBM Intelligent Operations Center, to efficiently leverage these state of the art technologies to monitor and manage services for the location, e.g., police, fire departments, traffic management and weather.
A state of the art operation center can facilitate proactively addressing local emergencies as well. A typical state of the art operation center may include an emergency capability. The operation center emergency capability facilitates departments in collecting and processing information from a range of location services and simulation engines. Sources of this information include, for example, police, fire departments, traffic management systems, weather forecasts, and flooding simulation.
Department management uses the operation center in analyzing processed information and potential emergency situations to plan for emergencies. Departments designate in the system teams of agents responsible for activities in an emergency, e.g., emergency management and response teams. In an emergency, the operation center facilitates the response in deploying designated personnel in the field to respond to, and minimize the impact of, any emergency.
It is essential to keep team members current during the emergency. Since the operation center coordinates and manages the emergency, therefore, team members must be able to remain connected, both to receive updates and to report updates to the operation center. The agents also must be able to communicate and coordinate with each other. Communications in an emergency, however, are likely to be impaired. Affected areas may experience bad network connectivity and difficult road conditions. The emergency may render endangered areas completely inaccessible and makes team member communications haphazard and at times unreliable.
There is a need for maintaining network connectivity between the operation center and deployed agents even in severely compromised situations; and, more particularly for maintaining communications between the operation center and deployed agents responding to an emergency, such as an earthquake or flooding, even in areas that have become otherwise inaccessible.